Privacy Policy

The APM Group Limited (“APMG”, “us”, “we”, “our”) is committed to protecting and respecting your data privacy. We want you to know how we use and protect your personal information. This includes informing you of your rights regarding your personal information that we hold.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we may use, process and store your personal data. Personal data is any information that can be used to identify or be reasonably associated with a specific person.

We need your personal data in order to deliver contractual/legal obligations you may have with us or our business partners or to allow us to provide you our services. In other cases, we will collect that information from you with your permission and consent.

Where APMG provides services to you on its own behalf (such as when you use our websites or purchase an examination from us), APMG is the “Controller” for all the personal data collected.

Where APMG is hosting an online training course via the APMG Learning Platform on behalf of a training provider, APMG is the “Processor” for the platform administration and the training provider is the “Controller”.

The laws that govern personal data in the UK are:

• the Data Protection Act 2018 and
• from the 1^st January 2021 the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
• the REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) (EU GDPR).

The independent authority that upholds information rights in the public interest in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”). Further information can be found at https://ico.org.uk.

Our registration details with the ICO are as follows:-

• The APM Group Limited                Z6934466             Current registration valid until 1st August 2021

This is APMG’s registered address, company number and contact information:

The APM Group Limited

Sword House
Totteridge Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP13 6DG

Email:  dataprivacy@apmgroup.co.uk

Phone: +44 (0) 1494 452450

If you have questions, comments, or complaints about this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the details above.

APMG may collect information from you because we have a legal reason (allowed by law or under contract) to collect the information, or because you have consented for us to do so for a specific purpose.

Information you give us

You may give us information about you with your consent or as required for you to use our services, for example:

• Information you provide to create and account with us
• The forms, emails, and other communications that you send us or otherwise contribute, such as support inquiries or posts to our message boards or forums. Please be aware that information on public parts of our websites and online platforms is available to others
• Your marketing preferences
• Information you share with us when you attend an online training course delivered through the APMG Learning Platform
• Information you share with us in connection with surveys or promotions
• Information you share with us by applying for a job at APMG
• Information you submit to us at a conference or exhibition

This information may be personal, financial, educational, or related to your employment history.

Sometimes we require you to provide us with information for legal reasons, such as to enter into a contract with us, when you are buying exams, assessments or other goods or services from us, or when you are applying for a job at APMG.

Information obtained from other sources

If you purchase an APMG exam or online training delivered via the APMG Learning Platform from one of our business partners or training providers, they may provide us with certain personal information about you (such as your name and email address) to allow us to provide services to you. The privacy policy of the applicable business partner / training provider will control how they use your information and share this information with us. Make sure you are comfortable with their privacy terms by reviewing their privacy policy.

Information obtained from your use of our services

When you use our services, we collect information about your activity on and interaction with our websites and/or online platforms, such as your IP address, your device and browser type, your preferences, the web page you visited prior to coming to our website and/or online platform, and information about how you interact with our websites and/or online platforms.

Some of this information is collected automatically using cookies and similar technologies when you use our services. You can read more about our use of cookies in Section 5 below.

Websites and Online Platforms usage information

We use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard website performance information.  This information is processed in a way that it does not identify individuals. Web usage information is collected by our web server and from other sources including search engines, internet service providers, page tagging techniques including JavaScript, and cookies. We use IP addresses to analyse trends, track users' movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

If you visit one of our websites or use one of our online platforms, we may automatically collect information about you, for example:

• IP addresses
• Information about the technology you use to connect to our website and/or online platform
• What parts of our website or online platform you click on and how long you look at our website or online platform.

As well as the information that you provide, we receive and store a range of website and online platform usage information whenever you use one of our websites or online platforms. If we want to collect personal information, we will be clear and specific why we require this information and ask you to opt-in.

We use this to:

• assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
• develop and deliver services and information that better meet your needs
• inform you of events, services, and products which we believe to be relevant to you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.

This service allows you to chat live with us or one of our support agents in order to facilitate your navigation of any of our websites or online platforms.

APMG use the chat function of Chatlio,1329 N 47th ST #31231, Seattle, WA 98107, USA.

Messages and other information entered into the Chatlio chat window by yourself and/or APMG or its sub-contractors are sent to APMG via Slack, a service of Slack Inc., 500 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States. Chatlio uses cookies to identify recurring visitors and uses your location data to provide an indication as to where you are from to our support team.

We collect and process personal information about you with your consent and/or as necessary to perform our contractual obligations, provide our services, meet our legal obligations, protect the security of our systems, or fulfil other legitimate interests. When engaging in a live chat session with one of our support agents or staff members, APMG, Slack and Chatlio may store the following information:

• Name
• Email Address
• Candidate Number (if applicable)
• Browser
• Operating System
• Page URL on which a chat was initiated
• Local Time
• Location
• Agent Ratings
• Any other personal information you may provide in your messages to us

By using our live chat, you agree to Chatlio's and Slack’s methods of storage and use of data. For further information, please refer to the privacy policy of Chatlio: https://chatlio.com/legal/privacy-policy and Slack: https://slack.com/privacy-policy.

Support calls are recorded to ensure that end user’s data security and rights are not breached during a support call.  These recordings are removed after 90 days.  It is in the legitimate interests for the individual to have a recording of such events so that we can investigate any claims of misconduct or unsatisfactory service.

The APMG Learning Platform (ALP) is a service provided by APMG to training organisations and their clients (the end-users of the ALP) for the delivery of online training courses. We provide the ALP to end-users as a “Processor” on behalf of the training provider. Your training provider decides how your personal information is used. This means that the main responsibility for data protection compliance lies with the training provider as the “Controller”. It also means that your training provider’s privacy policy governs the use of your personal information (instead of ours). Please read your training provider’s privacy policy for information on how they handle your personal information.

We obtain data when you use the ALP in order to deliver our services and provide a better experience to you. The categories of data we obtain when you use the ALP include data you provide to us (or that we may receive from your training provider or another ALP user, for example, in a training session booking or invite) as well as data that our system collects from you.

• Data that you give us (or that we may receive from your training provider or another ALP user) includes:
  • Information that identifies you, such as your name, username and email address.
  • Information that you or other ALP users (including training providers) upload, provide or create while using the ALP. For example, files, whiteboards, chat and instant messages, and other information shared while using the ALP services. Please note information and content shared by you via the ALP is accessible to other users in the same session / meeting.  APMG does not monitor or use ALP user content for any reason other than as part of providing our services. APMG does not sell ALP user content to anyone or use if for any advertising purposes
• Data that our system collects from you includes:
  • Technical information about your device, network, and internet connection, such as IP address, device type, operating system type and version, client version, connection type, etc.
  • Analytics data such as Google Analytics but only if you have accepted to be tracked
  • Information about how you use the ALP, such as when you last logged in, the training courses you have taken (including your progress and results) and information about the events / live sessions you have attended (dates, course titles, etc)
  • Metadata. This includes duration of the training session, type of training / product delivered, date / time of training scheduling and delivery

We use this data to:

• Create your account and provide the ALP services to you
• Connect you to and optimize your experience using our service
• Provide you choices as to how you use the ALP
• Provide training providers dashboard and reports
• Monitor performance of our networks
• Respond to requests for support
• Conduct anonymized, aggregated analytics on the ALP’s performance.

If you attend a live training session or webinar as a participant, the training provider may choose to record the session, and if so, the training provider is responsible for obtaining consent from you. Recordings may contain personal data and may be stored in APMG’s secure infrastructure for up to 10 days following the date of creation of the recording and are automatically deleted from APMG’s systems after this period. A training provider may choose to screen capture or re-record a recording of a training session on its machine or server. In this instances APMG does not have any control over such capture or re-recording by the training provider. Please check your training provider’s privacy policy to ensure you are comfortable with their privacy terms.

APMG use an email/marketing automation platform to send AO communications and newsletters to newsletter list recipients.  We collect and process information about you if you sign up on our website to receive newsletters or provide consent to receive marketing in the candidate portal.  You can withdraw your consent to receive newsletters at any time by clicking on unsubscribe in the newsletter or by changing your marketing preferences in the candidate portal https://candidateportal.apmg-international.com/#/exams.

APMG use the automated platform Dotdigital. 

Dotdigital is an online marketing platform operated by dotdigital EMEA Limited, No.1 London Bridge, London, SE1 9BG, United Kingdom.  For further information, refer to their Privacy Policy at https://dotdigital.com/terms/privacy-policy/

Our websites (including apmg-international.com, apmg-businessbooks.com and ppp-certification.com) and online platforms (including the APMG Learning Platform and the APMG Candidate Portal) puts small files (known as “cookies”) onto your computer to collect information about how you use our site.

Cookies are used to:

• measure how you use the website / online platform so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
• remember the notifications you’ve seen so we don’t show them to you again

APMG websites and online platforms do not use cookies to identify you personally, but to gain useful knowledge about how the site is used so we can keep improving it for our users. 

You will normally see a message appear on the site before we store a cookie on your computer.

Find out more about how to manage cookies by visiting www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Measuring website/ online platform usage

APMG websites and online platforms use Google Analytics to collect data that we use to improve your experience of our sites and platforms.

The cookies we use are:

Our Introductory Message

We are legally obliged to tell you that we use cookies on our sites and online platforms and gain your consent to their use. We do this via a pop-up message when you first visit our website or online platform. We store a cookie on your computer so that we know that you have acknowledged the pop-up and the site knows not to show it again:  

Content Management System

We use the Drupal content management system on our websites and online platforms, which also sets a number of cookies:

Google AdWords

Google Analytics allows us to record information about the page a user has seen on our website, for example the URL of the page. The Google Analytics JavaScript libraries use HTTP Cookies to "remember" what a user has done on previous pages / interactions with the website.

Important: Google Analytics does not store any personal information about website users. Please refer to the Google Analytics privacy document for more details.

Information about how visitors can opt out of Google’s use of cookies can be seen at  Google’s Ads Settings.

Third Party Cookies

First-party cookies are those that we set for our websites and online platforms; third party cookies are cookies that originate from different websites. We do not control the setting of third-party cookies, so if you are concerned you should check the policy on the third-party website.

An example of a third-party website we use is YouTube. We have a number of videos on apmg-international.com and although we own (or have permission to use) them, the video content is actually streamed from YouTube. You may therefore receive a YouTube cookie if you view one of our videos.

We believe in protecting the privacy of children. In line with this belief, we do not knowingly collect or maintain personal information from persons under 16 years of age, and no part of any of our websites or online platforms is directed at persons under 16 years of age. If you are under 16 years of age, then please do not use or access our websites or online platforms at any time or in any manner. We will take appropriate steps to delete any personal information of persons less than 16 years of age.

If you are a parent or legal guardian and believe your child has given us information, you can contact us at dataprivacy@apmgroup.co.uk, and we will take appropriate steps to investigate and address the issue.

APMG collects information for some or all of following reasons:

• To provide services to you, for example:
  • information that identifies you, such as your name, username and email address
  • to allow you to register and sit an examination with us
  • to deliver online training you purchased from us or one of our business partners / training providers
  • after you have taken one of our educational certifications/ qualifications, to manage your certification, including validation of your certification/qualification by us
  • to provide you with any of the services available via our websites and/or online platforms.
• To provide information about products or services you have shown interest in purchasing within a reasonable time afterwards, if you are an existing APMG customer.
• To provide information to you about products or services you have purchased from us, or related products or services.
• To provide information to you about our products and services if you have consented to receive it.
• To employ you or consider you for employment.
• To provide goods or services to you under contract.
• For legal reasons, for example, if you have entered into a contract with us.

APMG may process your information because:

• We have a contract with you;
• You have given us permission to do so;
• We must provide services to you after you have purchased something from us or one of our business partners;
• We must provide services to you because you have taken one of our qualifications;
• To comply with the law.

All these are reasons APMG may legally process the information we have about you.

We primarily store and process your personal data in the EU/European Economic Area (“EEA”). If we do transfer your personal data outside the EEA it will be because you have consented or because we have a legal reason to do so. Your data may also be processed by staff (who work for us) operating outside the EEA all of whom are covered by this policy.

Some examples of reasons your data may be processed outside the EEA include:

• Order fulfilment
• Payment processing
• Technical support services
• Live Chat services.

If your personal data cannot be processed within the EEA, we will:

• Comply with all other data protection principles;
• Where possible, process it in a country that is on the list of the EU Commissions’ countries that provide adequate protections for the rights and freedoms of data subjects;
• Make sure we have assessed the adequacy of protections in all other cases.

APMG will also transfer your personal information to the owner of the scheme qualification you have chosen to undertake and our business partner(s) from whom you have purchased our services (if any). Please see Section 9 below for more details.

By using our services, or submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing and/or processing.

APMG may share your personal information with third parties, either because you have consented to allow us to do so or for a legitimate purpose or to comply with the law. For example, we may share your personal information with:

• The training organization who provided training to you before you took an examination (for example, to share your examination result or to deal with a complaint) or from whom you have purchased online training delivered via the APMG Learning Platform (please see “Disclosure of data collected and used via the APMG Learning Platform” below);
• Our group companies, which means our subsidiaries, or our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006;
• With third parties because you have given consent;
• With third parties who provide shipping or publishing services because you have purchased goods or services;
• On our Successful Candidate Register if you have consented;
• Subcontractors and third parties for the purpose of the performance of a contract we hold with them or that we hold with you for a service you have chosen. They only receive data needed to provide their services to us and are required to use such data only in order to perform the services we have hired them to do (unless otherwise required by law). We have agreements with our service providers that say that they cannot use any of this data for their own purposes or for the purposes of another third party.

Please note some of these organisations may be located outside UK and/or EEA, for example:

• Taking an on-line exam at home or in the office via ProctorU
  • This service allows you to take an online exam from the comfort of your own home or office with online proctoring.  We use a third party supplier, ProctorU, to provide this service.  Their privacy policy can be seen here https://www.proctoru.com/privacy-policy
• Obtaining a digital badge and certificate via Credly
  • This service allows successful candidates to claim a digital badge to embed on an email signature, website, social media or a digital CV.  Successful candidates are required to register and accept their digital badge on Credly. A digital certificate will also be available on their personal account.  Each certificate has a unique verifiable link built into it allowing individuals, teams, managers and employers to quickly validate any certificate presented electronically.  Candidates can also print their own certificate on demand from their Credly account. Their privacy policy can be seen here https://www.youracclaim.com/privacy

• IP owners of the APMG qualification you have chosen to undertake. Please note that some Scheme Owners are based outside the EEA as shown in the table below:

Disclosure of data collected and used via the APMG Learning Platform

APMG is a “Processor” of content and personal data put into our systems by training providers when they use the ALP. The training provider is the “Controller”. We follow their directions regarding this data, and may store it, delete it, or disclose it at their direction.

Course content, including information shared during training sessions, information about training attendees and any recordings of training sessions, belongs to the training provider delivering the training. Training providers may use this content, which may include personal data about training attendees, for their own purposes. Training providers may also receive data we collect (for example, attendees’ names) when they access ALP dashboards and generate reports.

When you use the ALP, some data will be disclosed to other course attendees and to the training provider deliver the training. For example, your name will appear in the attendee list. If you turn your video camera on, your image will be shown. If you send a chat or share content, that can be viewed by others in the same session or chat.

Other reasons APMG may share your personal information with a third party

If APMG or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal data held by APMG about its customers will be one of the transferred assets of the company.

In addition, APMG will share your personal data with third parties for the following reasons:

• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your information in order to comply with any legal obligation,
• To enforce or apply our Website Terms of Use, Terms and Conditions of Sale, or other agreements
• To protect our rights, property, or safety, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
• For audit purposes by National Accreditation Bodies i.e. UKAS, by whom we are accredited.

Aggregated or anonymized data with personal information removed

APMG may, from time to time, provide third parties with data that has been aggregated or anonymized.  This means that personal information that could be used to identify you has been removed from the data.  An example of this may be how many candidates have taken an exam in a country.

Data provided to third parties in this way is not personal data; however, we do respect your right to object to your data being used in this way.

Access to your stored personal data via password

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site or online platform, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. We ask you not to share passwords with anyone.

Transmission and storage of your personal data

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we have technical and organisational measures in place to protect your data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data as it is transmitted and stored.

APMG will not retain your personal information for longer than required.

We will keep your personal information:

• For as long as required by law
• Until we no longer have a valid reason for keeping it
• Until you request us to stop processing it.

We will retain personal data collected for as long as required to do what we say we will in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

We may keep just enough of your personal information to ensure that we comply with your requests not to use your personal information or comply with your right to erasure. For example, we must keep your request to be erased even if it includes your personal data until such time as you are no longer our customer.

If you have questions about our Data Retention Policy or wish to be provided with a copy. Please contact: dataprivacy@apmgroup.co.uk

If the personal information is necessary in order to supply goods or services to you under a contract between you and APMG or via one of our business partners, then we will not enter into that contract or provide the services or goods if you do not give us your personal information.

Where you have consented to receive communications from us or are currently receiving material relating to our products or services, you may at any time ask us to cease sending you such material by contacting us.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties.

APMG International is a subsidiary of The APM Group Limited. You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the GDPR. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please contact our Data Protection Manager via dataprivacy@apmgroup.co.uk or write to:

F.A.O. Data Protection Manager

APM Group Ltd
Sword House
Totteridge Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP13 6DG

APMG will respect your legal rights to your data.

Below are the rights that you have under law, and what APMG does to protect those rights:

Our websites and online platforms may contain links to other websites. Anonymous visit or session information may be passed to other websites for the web usage information purposes described above. None of this information can be related to an individual user of the website. The operators of other sites may collect information from you, which will be used by them in accordance with their own terms and conditions, and privacy policies.

This privacy notice applies only to our websites and online platforms. We are not responsible for privacy practices within any other website. You should always be aware of this when you leave this website and we encourage you to read the privacy statement on all other websites that you visit.